Performance of crossbred cattle and comparison of sires evaluation methodsunder organized farm condition

The efficiency of sire evaluation methods in organized herd with small prog eny group size was examined along with performance evaluation of crossbred cattle. The data on 1 224 first lactation performance records of Karan Frie s (Holstein Freisian x zebu) cows born out of 129 sires and spread over 21 years were used to examine the efficiency, accuracy and repeatability of 5 sire evaluation methods, viz. simple daughter average index (I), contempora ry comparison method (CC), least squares method (LSQ), simplified regressed least squares method (SRLS) and best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP). Th e least squares of variance showed that genetic group had highly significan t (P<0.01) effect on age at first calving (AFC), first lactation 305-day or less milk yield (305MY) and first lactation total milk yield (LTMY). The s eason of calving had highly significant effect on 305MY, LTMY, first servic e period (FSP) and first calving interval (FCI). The period of calving had highly significant effect on 305MY, FSP, and FCI. The CC method was observe d to be the most efficient sire evaluation method and I the least efficient . The F-1 (HF x Tharparkar) crosses had highest 305MY among all the genetic groups. The rank correlations of CC method with other 4 methods ranged bet ween 0.77 with SRLS and 0.85 with BLUP. The repeatability of sires' breedin g value estimation in CC, LSQ, SRLS and BLUP was lower with less number of progeny record (5-8), however, increased with the increase of progeny group size.